Hopping Robin

Every weekday, I try to stop at our North Campus church to say my morning prayers before heading to the South Campus for the 8:00am Mass. One of the things I do is walk around the interior church walls while reciting a Rosary, sometime stopping by a window to see God in nature.

Last Thursday, I stopped at one of the windows and watched a robin hop here and there, again and again, looking for its morning worm. I never thought about it before, but I began to wonder why the robin does not simply walk from one location to another or fly. I looked it up on the internet and found that they hop because, when searching for their food, moving in short hops covers the ground more efficiently.

If you watch them carefully, you’ll notice that robins pause and remain very still after a hop, watching for tiny movements in the grass. They have very keen eyesight and they can also see the small holes in the ground from which worms enter or exit. They can spot the holes in which a worm may be present. It is also believed that they may detect subtle sounds or vibrations made by worms moving beneath the surface of the ground.

When thinking about this spiritually, I thought a robin never knows exactly where the next worm may be, yet it patiently hops, stops, looks, and continues searching until it finds one. How lucky are we in not having to follow the same ritual as we seek spiritual nourishment. Jesus is always present in the tabernacle awaiting our visit, ready to bless us with His graces. He is always present in the Holy Eucharist to nourish us on our earthly journey. We do not need to seek in order to find. The answer is always in front of us. May we take advantage of that gift often and appreciate the lesson a robin teaches us in this regard.



By: Deacon Tom Gryzbek